Carnival Cruise Mishap Creates Public-Relations Mess

By

Arian Campo-Flores

Updated Feb. 14, 2013 10:45 p.m. ET

The drawn-out saga of the disabled Carnival Corp.CCL2.72% cruise ship that slowly made its way to land Thursday has created a public-relations headache for the company, though analysts say the long-term impact on bookings remains uncertain.

For Carnival, the drawn-out saga of it's disabled cruise ship Triumph has come to an end. But what will the long-term impact on cruise bookings be? PhoCusWright Senior Director of Research Douglas Quinby discusses on the News Hub. Photo: Getty Images.

Tugboats towed the Carnival Triumph to Mobile, Ala., where it arrived Thursday night. That brought an end to a four-day ordeal triggered by an engine-room fire that knocked out the power, leaving the more than 4,000 people on board without air conditioning and use of toilets.

Photos: Images From a Ruined Cruise

Vance Gulliksen, a Carnival spokesman, wrote in an email response to questions that the company and outside agencies would conduct a detailed investigation of the accident. He added that Carnival complies with all safety standards set by the International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency. "Indeed, Carnival's own standards and policies often exceed international regulations," he wrote.

As conditions on the Triumph deteriorated, passengers described to friends and family a grim scene of overflowing toilets, nauseating odors and shortages of food. Televised images showed some passengers waving signs reading "Help."

Mike Padilla said his wife, Kerry, was on board celebrating her 40th birthday and was holding up well. "It just hasn't been the living hell that I'm sure many people will describe," he said she wrote to him in a text message Thursday afternoon. "Has it smelled like urine, poop and rotting food? Yes, at times it has."

The fallout from the incident extends beyond those on board. The cruise line announced this week it was canceling 14 scheduled voyages of the Triumph, affecting tens of thousands more travelers.

Carnival has sought to make amends with passengers by providing all those affected with a full refund and discounts on future cruises. Those on the current voyage will also receive a $500 compensation. The company dispatched officials to receive passengers in Mobile and arranged for their travel back to Texas, where the cruise originated.

"As far as what they're offering the consumer, I think it's fair," said David Crooks, senior vice president of product and operations at World Travel Holdings, a cruise agency with more than 1,500 customers affected by the cancellation of the Triumph trips. "I'm not sure what more they can do."

Yet the episode has focused attention on cruise-ship safety, little more than a year after the Costa Concordia shipwreck in Italy that killed 32 people. That vessel was owned by Costa Crociere S.p.A., a unit of Miami-based Carnival.

That was followed less than two months later by an engine-room fire aboard the Costa Allegra, another Costa Crociere ship, which left it adrift and without power in the Indian Ocean. No one was killed or injured in that incident.

"What this does is raise a question about operational procedures and safety procedures," said Douglas Quinby, senior director of research at PhoCusWright, a travel industry research firm. "This may spur some additional and perhaps needed engagement within Carnival."

Still, it's not clear whether the mishap will have a long-term effect on the company. "There may be some short-term negative impact on their bookings," Mr. Quinby said. But "you have to keep in mind that consumer attention is very flighty."

Mr. Crooks said his agency has not observed any drop-off in cruise bookings this week. "Actually, we're having a very good week," he said.

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